PROVIDENCE \u2013 At the helm of the U.S. Attorney\u2019s office in Rhode Island for about eight months, Zachary Anthony Cunha says his new job has been an \u201cincredibly rewarding\u201d experience thus far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s satisfying on a moral level, but it\u2019s also incredibly satisfying on a professional and personal level\u2026 [because of] the number of issues that we deal with and the way they touch the lives of the people in our community\u201d said Cunha, who was sworn in last December as the top federal law-enforcement officer in the Ocean State, after being nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n Cunha, 46, is not the first Portuguese-American to serve as U.S. attorney, but surely belongs to a very small exclusive clan (now Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha also served as U.S. Attorney from 2009 to 2017).<\/p>\n Cunha, who likes to think of himself as \u201cthoughtful, fair and decent,\u201d traces his roots to Beira Alta and Algarve in mainland Portugal. He said his top priority has been maximizing public safety, whether it is by combating drug trafficking and overdoses, gun violence, fraud or white-collar crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are all things that we, as the federal government, are uniquely situated to go after,\u201d he said. \u201cTo actually see some of these cases start to come to fruition, that\u2019s incredibly satisfying to me\u2026 the feeling that we\u2019re actually having an impact and doing some good.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunha brought with him 17 years experience with the U.S. Department of Justice, serving previously in U.S. Attorney\u2019s Offices in the districts of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York.<\/p>\n As a federal prosecutor, a great part of his job has been centered on white-collar and health care fraud.<\/p>\n Since March, his office has seen about two dozen resolutions, charges or sentencings related to fraud.<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a huge increase in fraud in the wake of the pandemic and pandemic related relief, and that has a huge impact on people\u2019s lives,\u201d Cunha said. \u201cWe have elder fraud. We have people whose life savings are wiped out through people reaching out and perpetrating various frauds on them. That\u2019s the kind of complex paper intensive case that the federal government is kind of uniquely good at doing. So, it\u2019s important to me that we do those cases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Another priority is to go after larger, organized drivers of violence.<\/p>\n His office recently concluded a case involving gang violence, stemming from generations of feuding between rival gangs in the city of Providence. As a result, four Chad Brown gang members were sentenced to federal prison in July.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder the pretense of dispensing justice, these defendants inflicted terror and violence on the people of Providence to serve the ends of their criminal enterprise,\u201d Cunha said, when the sentence was revealed.<\/p>\n\n As far as drug trafficking, he said his office is primarily committed to going after large-scale drug dealers.<\/p>\n While Rhode Island recently legalized the recreational use of marijuana despite the fact that it still remains illegal under federal law, he said this policy should not have a big impact on his office\u2019s workload.<\/p>\n \u201cFentanyl, opioids, things like that, that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to focus my resources,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to Congress to decide what they criminalize or don\u2019t criminalize at the federal level, but it\u2019s up to us, as U.S. attorneys, to figure out how to effectively use our resources in the way that\u2019s going to have the biggest impact. For me, in the drug space, that\u2019s opioids and serious narcotics that actually are leaving people dead in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n In his view, the opioid crisis should be fought not only from a law enforcement standpoint but also from a medical perspective.<\/p>\n When asked, he said he was familiar with Portugal\u2019s widely acclaimed drug policy, which decriminalized the public and private use, acquisition, and possession of all drugs about two decades ago, adopting instead an approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Portuguese Government continues to go after – you know, in terms of criminal law and criminal prosecutions very vigorously – large scale drug traffickers,\u201d Cunha said. \u201cThat\u2019s an important part of their model. The other half of their model is a more public, health-oriented approach to the end users\u2026I think it\u2019s consistent with what we do and some of the efforts here in Rhode Island. You have to have both. This is not a problem that you can solve purely through prosecution – opioid abuse or narcotics abuse. You have to have, you know, resources devoted to recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n He said one of the great things about a state the size of Rhode Island is having the opportunity for multiple different agencies and entities to work together and coordinate with one another in order to help folks get beyond addiction and get their lives back on track.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, we are out in the community all the time doing outreach with addiction support and recovery,\u201d Cunha said, adding that his team tries to attack both ends of the drug problem. \u201cWe\u2019re not just here to lock people up\u2026 We should be looking at every option that we have in the toolbox to determine how we deal with this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n But how does he balance the desire to send a strong message to individuals accused of crimes with the Biden administration\u2019s stance on criminal justice reform and wish to reduce some of the incarceration time and focus on rehabilitation?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a challenge in every case,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI think part of it has to do with our role in the federal system. We\u2019re not prosecuting every criminal that\u2019s picked up on the street. We\u2019re generally focusing on higher level particular types of crime. It\u2019s also important to remember that we\u2019re not the only player in the system. We\u2019re the prosecutors, but ultimately it\u2019s the court and the judge that makes a determination about what somebody\u2019s sentence is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunha stressed that his team takes a very fact specific, individualized approach to every case to achieve the right balance or what is the sufficient standard but not greater than necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s the magic number here?,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s the minimum amount necessary to make sure that we\u2019re protecting the public and that we\u2019re accomplishing the goals of encouraging respect for the law and all the other factors that we have to take into account? We try and do it on a very case-by-case basis, as opposed to we\u2019re going to look at one category and treat everybody exactly identically regardless of their circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n His office receives criminal referrals from federal investigative agencies, state and local investigative agencies, and, occasionally, from citizens. After vigilant consideration of each criminal matter, he decides the appropriateness of bringing criminal charges and, when deemed appropriate, initiates prosecution.<\/p>\n\n Although his office mainly deals with criminal law, it also includes a very active civil practice.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m especially proud of this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe go out in the community to make sure that folks are guaranteed their civil rights and part of that includes language access. So, you know, whether it\u2019s in the state court system or whether it\u2019s in schools making sure that folks from immigrant communities who don\u2019t speak English or for whom English isn\u2019t their first language that they get the services that they\u2019re legally entitled to.\u201d<\/p>\n *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Cunha said one of the most influential people in his life was his grandfather Ant\u00f3nio, a native of Sandomil, Beira Alta. He immigrated to the United States in 1921 and married a Provincetown native, the daughter of a fisherman originally from Algarve.<\/p>\n \u201cHe settled along with the rest of his family on Broad Street in Hartford, Conn.,\u201d Cunha said. \u201cThat\u2019s where he and my grandmother lived after they married.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Cunha and his father, Dr. Burke A. Cunha, an infectious disease physician and professor of Medicine in New York, were born in Hartford.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up spending a lot of time with my great-aunts and uncles and their families and sort of that extended Portuguese family network\u201d recalled Cunha. \u201cMy grandfather and I were very close and he was a huge influence in my life growing up. There were two things that animated him: his love of Portugal and his Portuguese heritage and his love of the United States and the opportunities that it gave him.\u201d<\/p>\n Cunha said he learned from him and other Portuguese relatives the important values of hard-work, unassumingly being a good person and staying committed to family. He, himself, has taught his two children about their Portuguese heritage, as a way to provide an important connection to their own identities.<\/p>\n \u201cYou try to give your kids a sense of where they came from and what their family went through,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s important to transmit those values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n One of his biggest regrets is not speaking Portuguese. Although he remembers his grandparents speaking it to each other all the time, he admits he cannot say much other than \u201cObrigado\u201d (Thank you) or \u201cBoas Festas\u201d (Happy Holidays).<\/p>\n \u201cI still hold out hope that one day I will find time to take lessons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Cunha earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, from Brown University in 1998, and a Law degree, also with honors, from the George Washington University Law School in 2001.<\/p>\n He said he chose law because it seemed to be a good fit for his written and oral advocacy abilities, but most importantly it was a place where he could \u201cmake the most difference and do the most good.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2010, he received the Attorney General\u2019s Award for Exceptional Service, the highest honor conferred by the U.S. Department of Justice, for his work as part of the prosecution team that achieved a $2.3 billion dollar civil and criminal resolution of charges against Pfizer, Inc. for illegal marketing conduct. At the time, this case represented the largest civil recovery and fine ever collected by the Department of Justice in a health care fraud case.<\/p>\n Cunha said he wanted to be a U.S. attorney because it was \u201can opportunity to serve on a different level\u2026 to actually direct our priorities and our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, the biggest challenge posed by this new job is that \u201cit never stops.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are several things that are new every day. They\u2019re all equally urgent and they all compete for your time\u2026 So there\u2019s a lot of juggling and balancing. But on the other side of that coin, you get to make a lot of impact in a lot of different areas. And I really feel like we\u2019re making a lot of progress on a number of fronts. So, it\u2019s challenging, it\u2019s stimulating, but it\u2019s also incredibly rewarding. That\u2019s what I love about it.\u201d<\/p>\n What legacy would he like to leave behind one day?<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a hard question,\u201d he replied. \u201cI would like to be perceived as having been motivated exclusively by the merits, to have done things because I thought they were the right call and the right thing to do and what the evidence required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n He said he particularly loves the fact that the Department of Justice is an institution with a very long and proud tradition of upholding important values.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important to uphold and reaffirm that we are here to uphold the rule of law; we\u2019re here to protect people, civil rights and civil liberties and that we are impartial and not driven by politics or political pressures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cunha said he wished his grandfather Ant\u00f3nio was still alive to see him in this new position.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was, you know, an incredibly decent man who never went beyond 6th grade in school, but managed to make a successful life in this country,\u201d Cunha said. \u201cFirst as a factory worker, and then he built his own small business and he sent my dad and my aunt to college for the first time of anybody in their family\u2026 [I wanted him to see] how proud I am to hopefully carry on some of the things he taught me and his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Lurdes C. da Silva may be reached at ldasilva@ojornal.com. To read more stories about the Portuguese-speaking community in English and Portuguese, please visit ojornal.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/08\/16\/NHER\/fbbb5673-1d14-454e-84e4-928fad2bd820-Zachary_Cunha_RI_Official_Photo_Full-Size.jpg?width=300&height=446&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
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